Away

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Sometimes, after a long enough period of time, I’m afraid to say that traveling can begin to feel more like time away. People’s lives keep moving on, even though you’re not there to see it, seasons change even while yours remain the same, and quite frequently, you’re reminded of this truth and how much you’re missing. This is where I’ve been. Away.

Sometimes, you need a little rejuvenation, a small step back to see where you are. That’s what I needed. So here are the quotes that came to me at just the right time.

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read one page.” -St. Augustine

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” - Lin Yutang

“Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” - Aldous Huxley

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” - Paul Theroux

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” - Benjamin Disraeli

“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”……Anatole France

“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” - Rudyard Kipling

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” - G. K. Chesterton

And my absolute favorites:

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain


Has it really been since October? So much has happened; it’s hard to even know where to begin. I suppose there’s no better place than the present…

Today is an unusual day in Brest…it’s snowing! Evidently this only happens once every 15 years or so, and it’s going to snow for two days. I have to admit, I’m loving it. Yes, Michiganders, you heard me. In a land where it is consistently raining, gray, and 45 degrees, a little sunshine and snow is a welcome change. (It’s quite humorous as well to watch the Frenchies panic)

In 8 glorious days I will be on a plane to (what I hope will be) sunny Spain and Portugal. I’ll be taking the train February 10 from Brest to Paris, flying from Paris to Barcelona, where I’ll spend 4 days, and then flying over to Madrid for 4 days, and finally Porto for 3 days before flying back to Paris on February 21. I have very high hopes for this trip (and will hopefully come back with lots of stories and adventures to share!).

However, I’m not sure anything can compare to the wonderful trip I had in Ireland. I left shortly after my last post back in October, and it was truly an experience. The music, the food, the relief of speaking English, it was more than I could have imagined. And the coffee! Oh the coffee! I always knew I was an addict, but the joy I felt when seeing that first Starbucks in Dublin cannot be described. Maybe in some parts of France giant take away coffee’s exists, but not in Brest, just the thought of such a thing evokes disgust in the minds of most locals (quelle horreur!) Among many of the highlights (starbucks aside...), top 5 were the following…

1. Learning how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness at the Guinness factory in Dublin
2. Drinking a Guinness at the famous Temple Bar while listening to traditional Irish folk music (quickly followed by a switch to a more delicious beer that isn’t as thick as mud)
3. Discovering that the most delicious beer is Smithwicks (don’t pronounce the “w”….you WILL be mocked)
4. Dancing the night away and making lots of new Irish friends
5. Kissing the Blarney Stone

Equally as wonderful have been the amazing visits from friends; best college roommate ever came to visit over Thanksgiving where we showed the world (literally) what Thanksgiving is all about. Pumpkin pie, stuffing, mashed potatoes, we did it all. Well, at least what we could. Turkey doesn’t so much exist. And, even if it did, I only have a toaster oven. So, Thanksgiving pre roasted chicken (that actually ended up being not so pre-roasted) it was. Also, no cranberries in France. Strange? Yes. We substituted with what I think was gooseberry jelly. Tastes surprisingly like cranberries. It was a huge success. We had company from Wales, England, Austria, Spain, New Zealand, it was amazing. This huge feast was followed by one of the best nights out I’ve had so far in France. There’s nothing like two American girls in France to cause some havoc.

Speaking of two American girls in France…another incredible friend came and spent New Years Eve in Paris! Arriving just in time on the 31st, we dressed up in our best, and hit the town. Dinner in the Latin Quarter (three course meal with lots of wine), followed by midnight spent (sadly sans countdown) on the Champs-Elysees, and dancing and flirting the rest of the night at Chao Ba, down the street from the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to bring in 2009.

Christmas was hard this year; I missed my family and friends greatly. I was lucky though to spend the holiday with new friends in Paris, staying in an adorable apartment, drinking champagne and eating fois gras, followed by midnight mass at Notre Dame. It was truly extraordinary. I will never forget as long as I live the sights, sounds and smells of that night. The air was thick with incense, with a cool breeze sweeping through with each opening of the grand doors, and after mass, stepping outside into the night air with the smell of chocolate crepes hanging as if suspended from invisible line, with the bells ringing at 2 am, ushering in the holiday, gloriously waking all of Paris.

Sadly, the snow has stopped, the green grass below has started to show through, and I am reminded again that I am in France and it is bon. Yes, it is bon indeed.

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Comments

[Mama]

Looks like Ireland got Lucky!
How much fun did you two have????? Ireland was lucky to have such great tourists.